Photography Blog - 13 - The Thousand Gates
There’s something surreal about stepping into a place you’ve seen in so many photographs, only to realise that none of them quite captured how it feels to be there.
Fushimi Inari Taisha is known around the world for its long tunnels of red torii gates, stretching into the forested hillsides of Kyoto. But what surprised me most was the contrast between the scale of the place and the small, quiet details tucked within it.
We passed through towering gates that seemed to multiply as we walked. But we also paused beside moss-covered shrines, miniature offerings, and cloth prayers handwritten with care. The deeper we explored, the more the crowds thinned out, until eventually it was just a handful of us walking in silence through a corridor of wood and shadow.
This collection isn’t just about documenting a famous place. It’s about noticing the small things that made it feel personal. A photo series capturing the things between each of the gates, in one of the most quietly beautiful places I’ve had the chance to visit.
Click through to see the entire collection here.
